Ladies in da House! This intrepid reporter, AKA Master of the Obvious has noticed that WOAH! THE LADIES are dominating Corporate Challenge 2014.

We racing sailors are all cognizant of the fact that sailing is a male dominated sport. I am reminded of this every time I go to a Laser Masters regatta and I'm the only woman competing. Recently, as a joke, I page through the June issue of Sailing World magazine counting men to women pictures. Granted I didn't get beyond page 3 (all those ads in the front - so boring) and I didn't count pictures of people when they were too small to discern the sex of the person. Still, my tepid attempt at scientific process yielded a ratio of five men to one woman. Pretty darned pathetic if you ask this lady sailor.

But that means nothing in the face of THE LADIES conquering the Corporate Challenge. Most notably one lady representing Fidelity boat two. "I'm just a mom." That was the response I got when I spoke to Kristina Stooken of after racing Monday night. As it turns out the "Just a Mom." raced 470's. Mark Lindsay was impressed. "That's a very technical boat." Technical or not Kristina shows her chops on the water with consistent top finishes. It's a rare person who can make a tubby boat like the Rhodes 19 go but she does it well for "just a mom." Here's hoping she shows up all the fellas and takes the big prize. My money's on that filly.

Everyone who sails the Corporate Challenge knows by now that funds raised go towards providing scholarships for Courageous kids. We've been fortunate over the weeks to have several of our "Courageous kids" racing. As someone who's been affiliated with Courageous over the years, working first as an adult instructor and later as racing coach in the youth program, I've had the privilege of coaching and working with many of the kids. I can say without hesitation that our Courageous kids are, by far, the finest people. Monday night I watched Jack Flaherty—one of my coaching "prodigies" and now a member of the BC sailing team—sailing around the race course. I felt like a proud mama. I first coached Jack in 420s when he was in 8th grade. Jack was a lively child. Still is. "You were the most annoying nice kid I ever coached." I say that pretty much every time I see Jack. He always smiles.

Then there's Ben Ringrose - one of the two Bens who sail for the Boston Public Schools sailing team. Ben R. and I worked Courageous frostbiting race committee this winter. We spent Saturdays together driving around in an Eastern moving marks and yelling at sailors when they tried to out run the good ship Odyssey. We commiserated on how miserably cold we were, saying stuff like, "This sucks." and "What were we thinking?" Standing on the cold deck of the motorboat watching the snow swirl by with every weekend getting colder. Ben, with his great conversation and ready laugh, made it all bearable. I have finally blocked out memories of the cold, the freezing rain, the icy needles of snow piercing my face as I drove around the race course. I will never forget the fun I had with Ben.

Yes, there was more of that sailboat racing stuff on Boston Harbor. Winds veering from easterly sea breeze to SW.

It never fails. Just another stellar night on Boston Harbor and my "happiness quotient" is a solid 9.99999. Every time I venture out from Courageous Sailing, whether in a motor boat or sailboat, I think "I am the luckiest person." As I park on Pier 3 and pull the requisite sailing gear out of the car; PFD, hat, jacket, sunglasses, I sniff the air, squint my eyes and search down Pier Four for the American flag perched on the top of the Courageous boathouse. Sailors like myself are always looking for breeze.

It never fails. Breeze is the first thing most sailors think of when we wake up in the morning. Slowly lifting our heads from the pillow, we come to consciousness. Yawning, we automatically pivot towards the nearest window looking for signs of wind. The flicker of leaves in the morning light. That soft rustling that heralds a light breeze. Sniffing we sense the direction: northwest = gusty clear air; northeast = possible backdoor cold front; southwest = a hot strong wind that tells us summer has arrived. I wonder what non-sailors first thoughts are when they wake up in the morning, probably stuff like, "Arrrgh, another boring staff meeting to attend today." or "I need a donut."

Everyone should spend a night hanging out on the RC Boat with our able PRO Carl Zimba. PROs are in charge of making sure races are run smoothly. They communicate with mark boats to get the course set square to the wind, they run starts and call boats who are over early. That's why Carl's voice is always hoarse at end of the night, "FOUR! FOUR IS OVER!!!!" And they record finishes which can be quite a challenge when there's more than a few boats finishing. That's why Carl is so good. He always gets it right.

"I got my mojo back." Becky Wheatland from Step Ahead Physical Therapy was happy to announce over drinks and and dinner aprés sailing. After two weeks of great finishes Becky's team came away with a second place for night three. Another team who improved tremendous was Boston Private Bank who earned a bullet in race one. I had noticed this team on the first night of sailing. They had good boat speed but were obviously struggling a bit with boathandling. That's why is great to see such a big improvement.

After three nights of racing there are five teams vying for top spot. Kudos to them. But you know what? The real story behind the Courageous Corporate Challenge is all the other teams. The BPB team who gets a bullet and says to themsleves "We got this." The Alphagraphics team whose skipper Carmine just helmed his second night. And all the other teams who are just coming out for the fun of sailing and most importantly to support Courageous programs.